Generic turn on

Use this action to turn on one or more entities, no matter which domain they belong to. It works like light.turn_on or switch.turn_on, but it is not tied to a single domain. That means you can turn on a light and a switch in the same action. A common use is a single “everything on” action in a script that mixes lights, switches, and other devices.

Home Assistant passes the request on to the matching turn-on action for each entity’s domain. If an entity’s domain does not support turning on, that entity is skipped.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To turn entities on from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Search for and select Generic turn on.
6. Under Targets (see Targets), select the entities, devices, or areas you want to turn on.
7. Select Save.

Options in the UI

This action has no options other than its targets.

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as homeassistant.turn_on. A basic example looks like this:

action: homeassistant.turn_on
target:
  entity_id:
    - light.living_room
    - switch.tv

Options in YAML

This action has no options other than its target.

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. Unlike most actions, the generic turn-on action is not limited to one domain. You can point it at any mix of entities that can be turned on, such as lights, switches, and fans.

• Entity: one specific entity, such as light.living_room.
• Device: every entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every entity on a floor.
• Label: every entity that shares a label.

You can combine target types in one action. For example, you can add a single light and a whole area at once.

Good to know

• Entities whose domain does not support turning on are skipped. The rest are still turned on.

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Generic turn off: Turns off one or more entities across any domain in a single action.

• Generic toggle: Toggles one or more entities across any domain on or off in a single action.